Malcolm Franklin | Vantage Point

'It is not often I go to work on Boxing Day, but in 2001, when my brother-in-law told me he had to take down a large holly tree, I could not turn down the opportunity to get some very special wood. 

Holly trees grow very slowly: this particular one was around half a meter in diameter and probably close to 150 years old. All together, about half a tonne of wood for me, with all the cuts made to my specifications. Naturally, at the time I did not have a specific idea for a sculpture and I knew it would take years of drying before I could use it. One of the works I carved from this tree , Plough, took shape over several years and presented a number of difficulties which resulted in a first for my carvings:  joining sections of wood together. I consider Plough to be a significant sculpture in my practice, because I have used the granite both as a means of support and to represent the idea of the plough share and coulter. A coulter would normally be in front of the share, but I placed it behind as an aesthetic device––the trapezoid form I used to depict the coulter reflects the end shapes of the handles of the plough.' - Malcolm Franklin

'This small bridge marks a new development in my work and is related to the connection between two countries. The slabs of Carrara marble are evocative of Italian sculpture and the wooden element––un ponticello, a little bridge––which links the two slabs is a piece of cherry laurel from the garden of my former home in London. It’s the bridge which joins my two worlds/countries. My new home linked to the memory of the old.

 From a sculptural point of view I wanted the stone elements to be neutral in shape, plainly rectangular with no embellishment, like the slabs of iron I admire in the work of Richard Serra. There are no fixings in this piece: the wood slots over one piece of marble and slides up into the hole on the other. Only the angle of the hole prevents the wood from sliding back out. Technically, cutting this hole at a precise angle was the most challenging aspect of the whole work: it was one of the most difficult holes I have cut in any of my sculptures.' - Malcolm Franklin

'Some of the photographs of Plough, in particular one taken end-on from the view of the handles, seemed to reveal aspects I had not foreseen, such as some fascinating trapezoid and rectangular shapes. I had to make some drawings––on a large scale––and for these I wanted to use Verona-marble dust, which gives a wonderful rich pink to reflect the new environment in which I live. 

I mostly started with a pencil outline of the desired shapes and then worked quickly, virtually attacking the paper with watery pigments, allowing them to drip and splash where they fell… it did not matter if they went outside the shapes too much, I was after a sense of movement and then I used pastel, charcoal and bits of paint to build up rich layers of colour and texture.' - Malcolm Franklin